Real Life Expenses

Life With a Meaning

Real life expenses enriches what I wrote in a Minimum Viable Expense page. It was the very beginning. That’s how I started and that’s how you should start looking at your financial independence. However, you don’t want to live like that for long. It’s a long run, so sprinting at the start ain’t gonna work. Eventually, you will run out of puff and quit. And only losers quit – remember?

This plan includes more real life expenses, which are required for us, in order to make more money. It’s not enough to have a roof above your head and some food in the fridge.

Real Life Expenses

Car

For example – a car. It’s a posh thing to have, but some people need it to go to work. In my case, I don’t need it, but it’s a nice thing to have. My life would be so much worse without it. I know there are people without it and they live just fine, but when you live in a village area – that’s not the same. I understand people in London, where is no point of having a car – catch a tube instead, it’s cheaper and faster.

This necessity costs a lot of money to keep it running. I am including this one into the current plan, cuz I have it too. And I will always try to use it, unless I lived in London. On the other hand, the car is not a leased one. It’s a second hand car – quite old car, but gets me from point A to point B. It cost me £450 ish back in the day. It’s time to change it, but that’s yet another story to talk about.

Since I mentioned a car – it comes with all sorts of additions. The main ones are road tax and insurance. Road tax is £180 a year, but an insurance is a weeping £650 a year. As we are counting every penny, let’s add MOT, which comes at a price of £35 a year and break down cover, which comes at £35 a year.

Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing how much repair will cost. An estimated guess would be £250 a year. Why? If it costs more than this, it’s time to change a car. Not every car – but in my case, it’s true. The last year my annual car service bill was about £200. This year it’s probably gonna be somewhat similar. There is the last thing which comes at a price, but it’s very variable and depends completely on you. It’s fuel. It costs me about £50 a month, but I do not need to drive to work. It’s completely for my leisure. It would be x4 more if I had to drive to work.

Clothes

The clothes is yet another one we didn’t include in our Minimum Viable Expense. But you cannot go anywhere outside of your residence naked, or can you? Socks, underwear, T-Shirts are the ones you have to change quite a lot. Include bra, tights and clothes in general if you are a woman. It adds up quite quickly. Depending on where you shop – online or retail – you are still paying quite a chunk of money for all of it. Wanna save on this – try charity shops. Not all of them are disgusting – stop it.

I’m quite a saver on this and manage to live on £200 a year. This one is very subjective for everyone, unfortunately. It depends where you work, what you do outside of work, where you live and even what friends you have. Because we buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like, don’t we?

In my case, I don’t need to buy silk suit for my job, jeans are alright. I need 2-3 pairs of shoes a year. One year it can be sandals & smart shoes, the other it can be winter shoes and sneakers. Each costs £20-30. I do not pay anything more than this. First – there is no reason for that. Second – I don’t care, as long as they are comfortable and aren’t torn apart. This leaves me with £110-160 for everything else.

Ten pairs of socks – a cheeky fiver. 10 pairs of underwear – £15. No – they aren’t Calvin Klein, but who cares? 100% cotton is 100% cotton – no matter what logo you stick on them. Read the bold sentence above. T-Shirts, sweaters and all sorts of things cost around £10 each. With over £100 left, you buy 10 parts of whatever. What costs the most are coats and other winter outdoor stuff you like to wear. But you need to change it, what, every 2-5 years? How many sweaters do you need a year? As I said, it’s very subjective for everyone.

Hygiene and Cleaning Up

The hygiene is one more topic we skipped in the Minimum Viable Expense plan. Again this one is very subjective. I would say I spend less than £10 a month on it. But to spread the costs evenly, I say it’s £20 a month. If you are a common person – there isn’t much you need. Tell me anything what costs you more than £20 a month in the comments please. I know women might be able to hit this line, but not men. One of the more expensive ones may be perfume – but you need to buy it once or twice a year. If it costs more than £50 each – check the bold sentence above.

The washing stuff in general costs a bit too. Everyone needs to wash their clothes, dishes, clean rooms, dust tables, hoover and so on. That’s another example of me needing £10 a month. But being conservative, I made it £20. This one includes kitchen materials too. It’s not food – it’s the kitchen foil, food wrap and so on.

Conclusion

To sum everything up including Minimum Viable Expense plan, our financial freedom point moves further from us. That’s why I split it into three parts. Going step by step is much easier rather than trying to jump over a wide canyon. Did I forget anything? Please do let me know if there was anything else you couldn’t live without.